The Requiem Project filed a complaint today asking a judge
to force the Emery Theater’s operating entity to enter into a long-term
lease with the organization.
On Monday, Judge Carl Stitch is scheduled to rule on a motion to
grant a temporary restraining order to stop the Requiem from being
evicted from the building. The complaint states that the Emery Center
Corporation asked Requiem to vacate the theater by Aug. 3 and has
requested that Requiem return its keys to the building. It asks the court to declare that the Requiem is entitled to a long-term lease of the property based on a 2010 agreement that the two sides would work toward a long-term lease.The Requiem Project is a nonprofit organization that
formed in 2008 to redevelop the Emery Theater, a 1,600-seat,
acoustically pure concert space on Walnut Street in Over-the-Rhine. The
theater entrance is on the west side of the building at the corner of
Walnut and Central Parkway, which includes Coffee Emporium and about 60
apartments. Requiem founders Tina Manchise and Tara Gordon have programmed events at the venue during the past few years under
temporary occupancy permits. The theater is not eligible for a permanent certificate of occupancy because it needs significant renovations — it currently doesn't have working plumbing or heat. Still, organizers have produced individual events, sometimes bringing in portable toilets and taking other measures to make the space functional. In April, the
Emery hosted the Contemporary Dance Theater’s 40th anniversary
celebration. It also hosted three nights of live music during last fall’s MidPoint Music Festival, which is owned and operated by CityBeat. MidPoint organizers were unable to secure the venue for this year’s event.
The theater is operated by the Emery Center Corporation
(ECC), a nonprofit organization that subleases the theater from the
Emery Center Apartments Limited Partnership (ECALP), a for-profit
corporation that holds a long-term lease to the building from UC. All
three parties — UC, ECC and ECALP — are named as defendants in the
complaint.
University of Cincinnati spokesperson Greg Hand declined
to comment, only stating that UC doesn’t have a relationship with the
Requiem Project because Requiem works directly with the ECC, which subleases part of the building from ECALP. The Requiem Project alleges that the intent all along was
for ECC to lease the space to Requiem long-term, not just for Requiem to program
events under a management agreement. According to the complaint, the
Requiem and ECC in 2010 signed a Letter of Intent, which stated that the
ECC would enter into a lease agreement with the Requiem “on
substantially similar terms” as the ECC’s current deal with ECALP, the
for-profit entity that oversees the rest of the building. That lease,
signed in 1999, is for 40-years and renewable for another 40 years after
that.
The two sides entered into a management agreement while
negotiating the long-term lease, but the lease was never agreed upon.
The most recent yearlong management agreement is set to expire Aug. 3.
ECC informed Requiem Jan. 16 that it would not renew the current agreement “for no cause,” according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that the theater cannot obtain a
permanent certificate of occupancy because ECALP removed the heat and
water systems while renovating part of the building into apartments,
which were developed to raise revenue for the eventual renovation of the
theater. The renovations of the apartments left the theater without
running water, heat, bathrooms or fire escapes, according to the
complaint, which notes that ECC let the theater sit empty between the
time it took over its management in 1999 and when the Requiem Project came
along in 2008. A permanent certificate of occupancy would allow regular programming in the theater, but the venue needs considerable
renovations to qualify. "UC refuses to even meet with the parties to outline its demands," the complaint states. "ECC and ECALP have stopped replying to Requiem's reasonable proposals."
The hearing is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Monday.

Educating students about sexuality and self-expression, giving LGBTQ students the "permission" to be completely themselves

If there’s anything University of
Cincinnati human sexuality professor Carolyn Peterson wants to give you, it’s the gift
of permission, of consent, to everyone, but especially to her students
who identify as LGBTQ.

Strange how many times in my life I have started toward
something and then found myself at a very different destination. I ate Greek
food in Chicago, gyros to be specific, and asked, ‘How come you can't get these
in Cincinnati?’ Seemed like the next great thing to me.”
This is what guided Myra Griffin of
Myra’s Dionysus as she ventured to open her own restaurant near the University of Cincinnati campus in 1977. She wanted create a unique eating experience in the Cincinnati area. Kicking
off the next big thing isn’t easy, though, and to keep it fresh, Myra saw to it
the menu has an array of ethnic food.
“…I realized how little meat other
cultures used and how much better it was for you,” she says. “Thus I became a
much more vegetarian restaurant.”
When most people think of food in a
college town, greasy quick meals and sandwiches from McDonald's come to mind.
Myra didn’t want that. In fact, one of her main criteria for a location was a
college town, for open-minded individuals who would enjoy her healthy,
vegetarian alternative to standard college cuisine. “Healthy does not mean it
can't taste good,” she says. That’s what she strives to deliver for every meal.
Myra’s other point in opening Dionysus
was to craft an atmosphere where people could bring their families and enjoy
themselves, again a notion not widely thought of in a college town. One would
think more of fun drinking locations or places to get a quick bite but not
somewhere you’d bring a child.
Myra’s Dionysus is a place where one
family in particular has created a tradition — four generations have enjoyed Myra's cooking. That is service
that’s hard to compete with. Dionysus is a kinetic place as well. It’s always
moving forward, adapting new dishes to the proverbial arsenal. Myra enjoys the
challenge of coming up with new dishes. She draws on cultures around the world,
relishing in diversity.
“It has been a case of trying things,
if they work, keep them; if not, change,” she says. At Myra’s Dionysus, the goal
for the restaurant is to entertain people through atmosphere, customer service
and good conversation. Myra has her degree in education, so teaching her
employees was simply second nature. Seeing workers solve issues together and
have a great time doing it is what helps drive the business ahead of the rest.
Myra’s Dionysus is an interesting
establishment. It’s healthy, odd, has history but plays on contemporary trends.
Myra makes sure all of these aspects and more show off to the outside world to
bring in anyone willing to give one of her dishes a try. All Myra wants at the
end of the day is a good experience for people involved.
“The fun is in seeing others enjoy what
we have to offer,” she says.Myra's Dionysus is located at 121 Calhoun St., Clifton Heights. Go here for menu, hours and more information.

Postgame hilarity available in video and GIF form

The University of Cincinnati baseball team might not have
had a winning record last year (24-32, 6-18 Big East), and it is currently
without a leader after the school fired longtime head coach Brian Cleary last
week. But that doesn’t mean the dudes didn’t have some fun this season — at
least after the games ended.
People of the Internet are enjoying a collection
of videos and GIFs released by UC showing players doing hilarious stuff in the
background of postgame interviews. The clips have been posted at Deadspin and
USA Today’s sports blog.Here's the video: And GIF form:

At the end of past spring classes I’d
spend weeks in a thick-headed fog, obsessing over the state of America’s
education system; I was confused by our simultaneous political
demonization of China and our dependence on Chinese students to grow and
improve our science and technology departments. Wow, I used to think. Then in spring 2009 — after three years of teaching it — I realized how piously I had been thinking.

The School of Art at the University of
Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning doesn’t
yet offer a specific MFA degree in duct tape, but you have to wonder how
soon before they do after seeing a current DAAP exhibition, Rise and Fall: Monumental Duct Tape Drawings by Joe Girandola.

The vagina: About half of Americans have one and a good deal more Americans than that actually came out of one...This sex organ is the center of medical,
legislative, domestic and sexual conflict, and yet we can’t look at it
or talk about it objectively.